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<p>Finally, booze, bars and casinos &#8212; the 21-trifecta.</p><p>Twenty-one seems to be the ultimate coming-of-age. You&#8217;re now moving from the kids&#8217; table at Thanksgiving to the adults&#8217; table.</p><p>At 16, you can legally drive a car.</p><p>At 18, you can vote, join the military and buy cigarettes.</p><p>At 21, you can do all those things and more.</p><p>My little sister, Julie, turns 21 today. We&#8217;re four years apart but ever since I turned 21, we&#8217;ve seemed light years apart.</p><p>Take this past weekend, for example; we were on a mini Independence Day getaway and my family (mom, aunt, uncle and I) went to bar bingo - which had a 21-or-older rule. We had to leave my sister home &#8212; it&#8217;s been like that every time we do anything relating to the 21-trifecta.</p><p>I was there once; we all were. Before I turned 21, Julie had me to friend-around with while the adults left. That&#8217;s the beauty of having a sibling.</p><p>Julie spent the past month letting everyone know that she would soon be 21. When I was turning 21, I did the same thing. It&#8217;s a fun time in life.</p><p>Turning 21 is also a difficult time in people&#8217;s lives. Older friends you meet at the bar become a go-to group because they can go out with you whenever and wherever, but younger friends who aren&#8217;t yet 21 can&#8217;t go where you want to go.</p><p>We spend our childhood looking up to adults, only wishing we were them. Then, we spend our adult lives saying, &#8220;If I knew then what I know now.&#8221; I can&#8217;t be the only one who has done this.</p><p>Turning 21 before my sister offered me the chance to preach what I&#8217;ve learned (what people told me when I was turning 21). Of course, I can write words of wisdom, like, &#8220;Watch your drink and don&#8217;t put it down until you&#8217;re done&#8221; or &#8220;Know your limit.&#8221; But in the words of Pope Francis, &#8220;Who am I to judge?&#8221; because, even at 25, there are times I still don&#8217;t heed those lines when I go out.</p><p>In the words of my wise Aunt Sandy, &#8220;Nothing good happens after midnight.&#8221;</p><p>Know the people you&#8217;re hanging out with and everything else will fall into place &#8212; you&#8217;ll watch out for them and they&#8217;ll watch out for you.</p><p>Being 21 is cool, but there are also some uncool aspects associated with that number. With age comes responsibility and, with responsibility comes consequences. You can now get that dreaded DUI charge (side note: always have a designated driver).</p><p>I&#8217;ve realized there are uncool things about life (cancer, death, watching ones you love become frail). When you become an adult, everything seems awesome, but you quickly realize it&#8217;s not what you really wanted.</p><p>Being 21 and an upcoming senior in college is a crazy whirlwind process of finishing college, figuring out what you want to do with your life and preparing to embark on the adult world. It&#8217;s both terrifying and exciting and it&#8217;s easy to forget to stop stressing and enjoy this time period while it lasts. You only get one life to live and, if you&#8217;re trying to rush through as a means to get to something, you&#8217;ll never enjoy life in the moment.</p><p>You&#8217;re well on your way to being 31.</p><p>Cheers.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Melanie Mizenko</p><p>mmizenko@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Beyond the Byline: Twenty-one going on 31